Zaitao

Beile

Prince Zhong of the Second Rank of the Qing Dynasty

Reign

(Never inherited the title.)

Predecessor

Zaiying

Successor

(None. Title abolished.)

Spouse

Jiang Wanzhen
Zhou Mengyun
Jin Xiaolan
Wang Naiwen

Issue

Eldest daughter
Eldest son
Yunhui
Pujia
Pu'an
Pushen
Puxi
Pushi

Full name
Aisin-Gioro Zaitao (愛新覺羅·載濤)

Father

Yixuan

Mother

Lady Lingiya

Born

23 June 1887
Beijing, Qing Dynasty

Died

2 September 1970 (aged 83)
Beijing, China

Burial

Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, China

Zaitao

Traditional Chinese

載濤

Simplified Chinese

载涛

Transcriptions
Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zǎitāo

Zaitao (23 June 1887 - 2 September 1970), pseudonym Yeyun (simplified Chinese: 野云; traditional Chinese: 野雲; pinyin: Yěyún), was a Manchu prince of the Qing Dynasty. He was a half-brother of the Guangxu Emperor and an uncle of China's last emperor Puyi.

Biography

Zaitao was born of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan as the seventh son of Yixuan, Prince Chun of the First Rank. His family was under the Plain Red Banner of the Eight Banners. He was later adopted by Yihe (奕詥), Prince Zhong of the Second Rank, because Yihe had no successor.

In 1890, during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, Zaitao was conferred the title of "Second Class General Who Guards the Nation" (二等鎮國將軍). In 1908 he and Tieliang (鐵良) were appointed as zongsi jicha (總司稽察; a type of inspector-official). A year later in 1909, during the reign of the Xuantong Emperor (Puyi), he was put in charge of the military consultant department (軍諮處). The following year, he visited eight countries - Japan, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Austria and Russia - to observe and learn from their more advanced military forces. In May 1910 he was sent to Britain as an ambassador and represented the Qing Dynasty at the funeral of King Edward VII.^[1]

In 1911 Zaitao was appointed as a minister of the military consultant department (軍諮大臣) and placed in charge of the Imperial Guards (禁衛軍). He was also designated as the commander of the Mongol Bordered Yellow Banner. In January 1912, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Zaitao, Zaixun, and others from the imperial clan, founded the zongshe dang (宗社黨) to preserve their ancestral temple, but this organisation was disbanded in March. In 1917 when the warlord Zhang Xun briefly restored the abdicated Last Emperor Puyi to the throne, Zaitao was appointed as commanding officer of the Imperial Guards (禁衛軍司令).

In 1931 Zaitao was recruited by the Nationalist government to join the National Crisis Conference (國難會議). After the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, Zaitao was a member of the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Zaitao fancied horses. In his early years he studied cavalry warfare in France's Saumur Cavalry School. After 1949 he served as a consultant on horses in the artillery department of the People's Liberation Army.

Zaitao was also interested in Peking opera. He was trained in both long and short range types of performing martial arts, and specialised in playing monkey roles in opera. He was tutored by Yang Xiaolou (楊小樓) and Zhang Qilin (張淇林). Opera actor Li Wanchun (李萬春) trained under Zaitao for three years.

Zaitao died in Beijing in 1970 at the age of 82.

Titles

General Who Guards the Nation of the Second Rank 二等镇国将军
Duke Who Assists the Nation 辅国公
Beile 贝勒
Beile with the title Prince of the Second Rank 郡王衔贝勒

Family

Father: Yixuan, Prince Chunxian of the First Rank.

Mother: Lady Lingiya (劉佳氏; 1866-1925), daughter of Deqing (德慶).

Spouses:
- Jiang Wanzhen (姜婉貞; c. 1870 - 1949), from an affluent family in Guangdong.
- Zhou Mengyun (周夢雲), previously a maid in Zaitao's household, divorced him after the People's Republic of China was established in 1949.
- Jin Xiaolan (金孝蘭; c. 1906 - 1967), previously a maid in Zaitao's household.
- Wang Naiwen (王乃文), a former performing artist.

Children:
- Born to Jiang Wanzhen:
  - Eldest daughter, unnamed, died prematurely.
  - Eldest son (1905), unnamed, died prematurely.
  - Yunhui (韞慧; 1906 - 1969), Zaitao's second daughter, changed name to Jin Yuncheng (金允誠), married the Mongol prince Darijaya of the Alxa Banner, Alxa League, in 1925.^[2]
  - Pujia (溥佳; 1908 - 1949), Zaitao's second son, read English together with Puyi in the palace, served in the government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
  - Pu'an (溥侒; 1911 - 1944), Zaitao's third son, was as a weapons specialist in Huabei Suijing Department (華北綏靖總署).
  - Pushen (溥伸; 1915 - 1928), Zaitao's fourth son.
- Born to Zhou Mengyun:
  - Puxi (溥僖; b. 1924), Zaitao's fifth son, changed name to Jin Daibao (金岱賓), worked in an automobile company in Beijing.
- Born to Jin Xiaolan:
  - Pushi (溥仕), Zaitao's sixth son, changed name to Jin Congzheng (金從政), was a languages teacher in Beijing's 80th Middle School (第八十中學).